The Rebel and the Baby Doctor by Joanna Neil Read Free Book Online Page B

there…Before you know it, all your secrets are aired.’
    ‘Then maybe it’s fortunate I don’t have any secrets to be made public,’ Connor murmured. He swallowed his coffee and glanced at Phoebe. ‘Are we on for the neonatal transport this afternoon? Katie told me they were hoping the baby would be in a stable enough condition to undertake the move.’
    She nodded. ‘Her vital signs are not too bad at the moment, so it looks as though it will go ahead.’
    Despite the coffee there was a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had been wondering why Connor hadn’t returned home last night. He hadn’t been there when she’d come back to the house from the Griddle Bar around midnight, and there had been nosign of his car returning in the early hours. That morning, as Jessica had pointed out to her, his room had been empty and the bed hadn’t been slept in.
    She glanced at him. Wasn’t that the same shirt he had been wearing yesterday? Her mouth flattened. It hadn’t taken him long to find a new object for his affections, had it? Had Lisa been wined and dined at the Blue Bay? Somehow, it rankled that he had been able to replace her so easily.
    For the life of her, she didn’t know why him staying out all night bothered her so much, but perhaps it would serve as a timely warning to her to keep her distance. He was fickle, and his affections could be diverted as easily as thistledown blowing on the wind.
    She rinsed her coffee-cup under the tap and headed for the door. ‘I have to go and check on a new arrival in A and E,’ she said. ‘I’ll catch up with you later, Alex.’
    Alex nodded. ‘Maybe we could get together some time this week? Perhaps Thursday evening, if you’re not going to be working?’
    ‘That sounds fine to me.’ She went out of the door and walked along the corridor to the stairs. It gave her a breathing space, a chance to get herself together, but Connor caught up with her as she reached the flight to the ground floor.
    ‘Not taking the lift today?’ he commented. ‘I hope this has nothing to do with diets and losing weight. You look perfect to me, just as you are.’ His gaze shifted over her, taking in the soft lines of her blouse and the gentle drape of her skirt as it flowed around her legs.
    ‘Thanks. I’m aiming to stay that way. You can call this aerobic exercise, if you like.’
    He made a smile. ‘If you say so.’ His expression sobered. ‘You didn’t look too happy, back there in the doctors’ lounge. Is everything okay?’
    ‘Of course.’ Not for one moment would she dream of telling him what had really been on her mind. But, then, she hadn’t been too keen to get back to work, had she, in her heart of hearts? ‘I suppose, if the truth be known, I’m worrying about the baby who was brought to A and E this morning. I can’t seem to get used to dealing with these fragile little infants. The very first baby I treated today needed an operation to correct a blockage in the flow of bile from the liver to the gallbladder. He wasn’t very well at all.’
    Connor was thoughtful. ‘I’ve heard that there’s more chance of a reasonable recovery if the operation is carried out in the early weeks—is it likely that things will work out well for him?’
    She nodded. ‘The operation went well, so I’m reasonably confident that he’ll be all right, but he’s just one among many infants who need our attention. These babies arrive here with so many different conditions affecting them, most of them serious and all of them very worrying—like the baby that has just been admitted. He has a heart defect that’s causing him to go downhill fast, by all accounts.’
    Connor’s expression became serious. ‘Yes, I was the one who examined him earlier and arranged for him to be admitted.’
    ‘Oh, I see. I didn’t realise that.’ By now they hadreached the A and E unit, and she waited while Connor keyed in his code so that the doors swished open.
    ‘The poor little